Research Guides: Race and Racism Reading List: Films

Documentaries

There's something in the water (streaming video)
There's something in the water is a disturbing portrait of ecological and social disasters in Elliot Page's native Nova Scotia. Based on Ingrid Waldron's incendiary study, the film follows Page and Filmmaker Ian Daniel as they travel to rural areas of the province that are plagued by toxic fallout from industrial development. As did Waldron, the filmmakers discover that these catastrophes have been precisely placed, all in remote, low income--and very often Indigenous or Black--communities. As they observe, your postal code determines your health. We're introduced to many courageous women. Louise, from Shelburne, gives us a tour of a neighborhood in her hometown where every house has been affected by cancer. Michele fights to protect A'Se'k or Boat Harbour, once a sanctuary for Indigenous people, now plagued by toxins spewed by a pulp and paper mill. (The government only began addressing this when other whiter, wealthier communities were affected. In one stomach-churning moment, it's explained that the company went to great effort to divert the offal towards A'Se'k.) And a group of Mi'kmaq activists known as The Grandmothers fight to protect a river threatened by a gas company.
Shelter in place (streaming video)
An intimate portrait of Port Arthur, Texas, a low-income, predominantly African American community battling not only the health effects of environmental pollution, but the corporate powers that deny their responsibility. Viewers hear from the affected families, E.P.A. officials, an attorney who brought suit against the refineries, and petrochemical industry spokespeople.
Cooked : survival by zip code (streaming video)
Chicago suffered the worst heat disaster in U.S history in 1995, when 739 residents--mostly elderly and Black--died over the course of one week. As Cooked links the deadly heat wave's devastation back to the underlying manmade disaster of structural racism, it delves deep into one of our nation's biggest growth industries: Disaster Preparedness. Filmmaker Judith Helfand (Blue Vinyl, Everything's Cool), uses her signature serious-yet-quirky connect-the-dots-style to forge inextricable connections between the cataclysmic natural disasters we're willing to see and prepare for and the slow-motion disasters we're not. That is, until an extreme weather event hits and they are made exponentially more deadly and visible. But whether it was the heat wave in Chicago or Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, Irma, and Maria, all of these disasters share something key: they reveal the ways in which class, race, and zip code predetermine who was living on the edge to start with, who gets hurt the worst, who recovers and bounces back--and who doesn't. In Cooked, Helfand challenges herself and others to truly see and respond to the invisible man-made disasters taking place in towns and cities across the country before the next 'natural' disaster hits.

The Skin We're In
Directed by Charles Officer.
Urgent, controversial and undeniably honest, The Skin We're In is a wake-up call to complacent Canadians. Racism is here. It is everywhere. It is us and we are it. Following celebrated journalist Desmond Cole as he researches his hotly anticipated book, this documentary from acclaimed director Charles Officer pulls back the curtain on racism in Canada. (44 min 09 sec)
Race is a Four-Letter word
Examines Canadian conflicts about race, including the director's own experience as a black man who tried to bleach his skin with chemicals, then tried to appreciate the meaning of his heritage as an "Afro-Saxon" Briton, then Granadian, and now Haligonian-Nova-Scotian-Canadian. Also shows a white man who is culturally and psychologically black; a black woman who wants to be considered iconically Canadian; another black woman who retreats to England rather than continue to face Canada's racial cold war.
The Two Nations of Black America
There is a growing economic divide in black America. Today, America's black middle class is the largest in its history, yet roughly one-third of black America continues to live in poverty. This film measures the economic and social success of the civil rights movement and the gap between middle class and poor African-Americans through interviews with noted Afro-Americans and historical film footage.
Go Do Some Great Thing: the Black Pioneers of British Columbia
In the spring of 1858 the Governor of the British colony of Vancouver Island needed protection, and the Black community of San Francisco wanted freedom from racial political persecution. A historical documentary that tells the story of three gold rush era trailblazers (Governor Douglas, Sylvia Stark and Mifflin Gibbs), and the exodus of African Americans from San Francisco.
American Revolution 2
The 1960s was defined by a common effort to fight against injustice. Mike Gray, a Chicago filmmaker, used his camera to document the politics of the streets to produce a gritty but essential documentary charting social turbulences in late 1960's Chicago. Includes footage of the 1968 Democratic Convention protest and riot, a critique of the events by working class African-Americans in Chicago, and attempts by the Black Panther Party to organize poor, southern white youths on the city's north side.
Invisible City
Invisible City is a moving story of two boys from Regent Park crossing into adulthood - their mothers and mentors rooting for them to succeed; their environment and social pressures tempting them to make poor choices. Turning his camera on the often ignored inner city, Academy-award nominated director Hubert Davis sensitively depicts the disconnection of urban poverty and race from the mainstream.
Yucho Chow: Chinatown photographer, 1906-1949
This documentary captures the opening of the gallery show, Chinatown through a wide lens: the hidden photographs of Yucho Chow, curated by Catherine B. Clement. Chow photographed during a tumultuous and transformative time in Canadian history, operating a commercial studio in the heart of Vancouver's Chinatown from 1907-1949. Besides taking many images of early Chinese in Canada, Chow was also the photographer of choice for many other communities who, at the time, were victims of harassment and racist policies. Chow chronicled the lives of early Sikh Canadians; Black-Canadians; Indigenous families, many of whom were refused service by white businesses, including white photographers. He also was popular among newly-arrived, non-English speaking European immigrants (Croatians, Polish, Ukrainians, Italians, Germans, etc.).

Feature films

The Hate U Give
Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds: the poor, mostly black, neighborhood where she lives and the rich, mostly white, prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressures from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and stand up for what's right.
Belle
Although Dido Elizabeth Belle, an eighteenth-century English woman of mixed race, is raised in privilege by her aristocratic great-uncle and his wife, she is denied a proper social standing because of her skin color. But when Dido falls in love with a young idealist lawyer who aspires to create positive change, she finds herself caught between two worlds.
Loving
Interracial couple fight Virginia's miscegenation laws, and their case reaches the Supreme Court.
Harriet
The incredible true story of Harriet Tubman, and her quest to lead hundreds of slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
Selma
Selma chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement.
Do the Right Thing
Traces the course of a single day on a block in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. It's the hottest day of the year, a scorching 24-hour period that will change the lives of its residents forever.
12 Years a Slave
Based on the true story of Solomon Northup. It is 1841, and Northup, an accomplished, free citizen of New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Stripped of his identity and deprived of all dignity, Northup is ultimately purchased by ruthless plantation owner Edwin Epps and must find the strength within to survive. Filled with powerful performances by an astonishing cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbener, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, and newcomer Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave is both an unflinching account of slavery in American history and a celebration of the indomitable power of hope.
Fruitvale Station
Filmmaker Ryan Coogler makes his feature directorial debut with this drama centered on the tragic shooting of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a vibrant 22-year-old Bay Area father who was senselessly gunned down by BART officers on New Year's Day in 2009, and whose murder sent shockwaves through the nation after being captured on camera by his fellow passengers.
If Beale Street Could Talk
This film adaptation of James Baldwin's novel "follows Tish, a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her lover's innocence while carrying their first born child. It's a celebration of love told through the story of a young couple, their families, and their lives."